2 ms·
Heh. I also calculated it from facts I knew, and got it wrong, even accounting for approximations and uncertainties. The facts I happened to know made for a tri
by abecedarius 16y ago
Heh. I also calculated it from facts I knew, and got it wrong, even accounting for approximations and uncertainties. The facts I happened to know made for a trickier calculation. (The moon makes one pretty-circular orbit per month following Newton's laws; it subtends 1 degree in the sky. But actually it subtends 1/2 degree -- I haven't checked if this was my only error, but gosh, it sure is easy to goof.)
- byoung2 16y agoNow there's a take on the authors thesis I missed the first time around. The fact that you can "know too much" and get the question wrong. In my example, I was so sure the Earth had a diameter or 25,000 miles, but I could have been completely wrong about that fact.